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December 2007

The Mineral Society of Manitoba c/o The Manitoba Museum 190 Rupert Avenue Winnipeg, MB R3B 0N2 Published monthly from September to June Home page: http://www.umanitoba.ca/geoscience/mineralsociety/index.htm

2005 – 06 EXECUTIVE President: Jack Bauer

Ph 204 632 6934 Vice President: Marion Foster

Ph 204 775 0625 Secretary: Sherri Henes

Ph 204 275 7883 Treasurer: Evelyn Bauer

Ph 204 632 6934 Field Trip Chairman: Gary Henes

Ph 204 275 7883 Email: sherriann8@yahoo.ca Newsletter Editors: Marion Foster & Marjorie Turton

Ph 204 775 0625 1199 Valour Rd., R3E 2W6 Email: 2mandm@mts.net Past President Jack Bauer

Ph 204 632 6934 Members at Large: Tony Smith

Ph 204 489 23081 Chris Lammers

204 488 0087 Yvonne Searle

204 663 6637 George Green 204 489 8495

The Christmas Party Was Fun

Santa was their to greet us At the Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans in Canada, 300-1395 Ellice Ave. Actually this Santa was a toy. The Army, Navy and Air Force Veterans put out a miniature winter village scene, which impressed this editor.

We had turkey and all the fixings. No one went home hungry.

But the main interest was minerals and fossils which were for sale and /or auction

Tony brought some of his extensive mineral collection. These items are available for sale.

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Dues are $15/year ($20 for families) and are payable at the October meeting or by mail during October. Meetings are held on the first Wednesday of each month from September to May inclusive at the Manitoba Museum in room P47 on the Planetarium level. They begin at 7:30 PM and feature announcements, an invited speaker and a draw. Members are encouraged to bring along any new, interesting specimens or specimens appropriate to the speaker’s topic. Field trips take place from May to September to interesting sites in Manitoba, neighboring provinces and states

BURSARY AWARD Justin M. Hurd is the recipient of the Mineral Society of Manitoba bursary for the highest marks in Geography and Geology at the University of Winnipeg for the 2007-2008 graduating class. This is the last installment towards a bursary for the highest mark in Geography and Geology that the Mineral Society of Manitoba will be providing to the university of Winnipeg’s students. Jennifer Greville is the Mineral Society of Manitoba’s bursary recipient at the University of Manitoba. This 4th year student spent the summer working on gold exploration in Nunavut. It would be interesting to hear about her experience there.

Christmas party (cont.) Ken and Donna brought some trilobites and shark’s teeth, also for sale. These are real trilbites and not modes.

In the past Ken submitted a large impressive trilobite mold which was cause for combititive bidding.. People gathered around the items for auction discussing the relative worth of the articles available for auction. Our ever popular, veteran auctioneer, Tony, ran the auction with humor, knowledge, and gentle persuasion. We always leave feeling that we got priceless treasures.

CLUB MEETINGS January 2, 2008, Speaker: Dr Anton Chakhmouradian, U.of Man., topic “DIAMONDS. Where do they come from?”

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CLUB MEETINGS (cont.) February 6, 2008: Speaker Dr Alan Bailes, topic to be determined March 5, 2008: Speaker Sharon Hull, topic: turquoise-sourcing techniques April 2, 2008: Speaker Dr Graham Young, topic: fossil record of jellyfish: do they exist in Manitoba? May 7, 2008: Speaker Dr Jim Teller with topic “Lake Agassiz”. Last season, we had many excellent speakers. The Vice President is accumulating an interesting collection of speakers for this season. CLUB NEWS

Sours Rock Shop For Sale. This business is a Rock Shop that also carries giftware, semi precious stone jewelry, and local works. It also does engraving and trophy making, hosts the tourist information centre, and is the Sears Catalogue Outlet. A business opportunity on prime location that includes small town Living. This place is only ½ hour from Brandon, Manitoba and 3 hours from Winnipeg Manitoba. Souris is a small tourist town known for its World Famous Swinging Bridge and one of the North America’s finest Rock Hounding Pits where you find a large variety of Semi Precious Stones, including The Souris Agate. Interested? Call Kelly at (204) 483 2561 E-Mail: sourisrockshop@mts.net Web page: www.sourisrockshop.com DIAMONDS Diamonds are a girl’s best friend; or are they? Diamonds are made of carbon, but then so is coal. However diamonds are made of pure carbon whereas coal is a complex mixture of carbon and large organic molecules consisting mainly of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, some nitrogen, sulphur, etc. Coal beds formed from thick layers of plant matter that were buried, compacted, and lithified (turned to rock). Diamonds are formed by???

It is believed that diamonds were formed in the Earth’s mantle under very high pressures (54,00 times atmosphere pressure). None of our coal beds were ever buried anywhere that deep. Six miles seems to be the deepest coal seam. Diamonds are as interesting to the mineralogist as they are to the jeweller. Being formed in the earth’s mantle they may carry information about the nature of the Earth’s mantle. The most common way diamonds can be carried out of the mantle is during a volcanic eruption of a very unusual igneous rock called Kimberlite. Kimberlite is typically a grey or bluish rock with large crystals of dark brown mica, phlogopite, in it. The fine-grained matrix is mostly perotite, a blue or green-grey rock made up mostly of olivine and pyroxene. Kimberlites may also contain small crystals of bright green diopside, blood red pyrope garnets, and glossy black ilmenite, and other minerals. Fragments of other rocks from the Earth’s mantle and crust in the form of xenoliths (strange rocks) may also be trapped in the Kimberlite matrix. Of course, there may also be diamonds. Where you find Kimberlite, will you always find diamonds? What about diamonds found in lamproite or in rocks that have been shocked by the impact of large meteorites? Are there diamonds in meteorites? If so, how are they formed?

IMPORTANT NOTICE If you haven’t paid your 2007-2008 membership dues, this will be your last newsletter.